Feds 'unlikely' to meet climate goals: Audit

Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Scott Vaughan holds a press conference on the release of his 2012 Spring Report at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 8, 2012.

Photograph by: THE CANADIAN PRESS
, Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is in the dark about the economic costs of its climate change policies and needs to carefully weigh the risks of scaling back federal oversight of industrial development, warned Parliament's environment watchdog Tuesday.

Scott Vaughan, the federal commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, made the comments after tabling an audit in Parliament that concluded Canada was "unlikely" to meet Harper's own climate change goals while it faced a $7.7-billion liability over sites that were mostly contaminated decades earlier during an age of weak environmental oversight.

"We cannot go back and repeat the errors of the past," said Vaughan at a news conference. "I don't think that Canadians can afford it and I don't think they would actually accept it."

In the House of Commons, Harper said his government had made "record investments" to clean up sites neglected in the past, while "ensuring that we have thorough environmental assessments going forward." The government's recent budget legislation proposes to rewrite or weaken several Canadian environmental laws, downloading some of the responsibilities to the provinces.

Environment Minister Peter Kent agreed with the importance of sharing information about costing of measures but said it would be "premature and speculative" to do so prior to consultations with industries such as the oil and gas sector, which do not yet face federal regulations cracking down on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

NDP deputy leader Megan Leslie noted that Vaughan's report suggested the government's lack of research contradicts its own arguments it is withdrawing from the international Kyoto Protocol on climate change to protect the Canadian jobs and industry.

"One would think if (remaining in the Kyoto agreement) was too costly, there would be numbers for their current plan," Leslie said. "But they (numbers) don't exist. They're working in some sort of fiction world."

Vaughan said his office expected that the government would analyze these costs to implement an effective plan to reduce the emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. But its current approach of introducing regulations, one sector at a time, is incomplete and has not even analyzed whether the government's goal of aligning policies with the United States would be cost-effective, the audit said.

So far, he noted, the government has only brought in two regulations to control emissions in the transportation sector. Rules to govern emissions in the electricity sector have not been finalized and would not take effect until 2015. Furthermore, there are absolutely no regulations in place to slash pollution from oil-and-gas companies.

"We found that this approach lacks an overall implementation plan designed to achieve the 2020 target, as well as economic analysis to estimate what the approach will cost the Canadian economy," said the audit.

"Without an implementation plan, industry, consumers and other levels of government lack a solid basis for knowing how to adjust technology and make normal investment decisions."

His report said it was "unlikely" the government can implement a plan in time to meet Harper's target of reducing annual emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020.

In fact, said Vaughan, the government's own documents predict Canada's emissions will be 7.4 per cent above 2005 levels with the existing policies.

"Regulations are complex, and those developed to date have taken as long as five years to be developed and to realize greenhouse gas emission reductions," said the audit.

Vaughan wrote that the issue is critical.

"Climate change has far-reaching impacts on Canada's economy, infrastructure and natural environment and on human health," said the audit.

"Recent reports by the federal government indicate that every region of Canada has already been affected by the changing climate; in particular, Canadian communities and critical infrastructure are vulnerable to extreme weather events, such as drought, heat waves, flooding and coastal storms."

Some existing policies adopted by the government, such as regulations to reduce tailpipe emissions from new cars, were anticipated to reduce annual emissions by about 11 to 13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent gases per year.

But Vaughan said in order to meet the commitment, an additional 178 million tonnes in reductions are needed to meet the 2020 target.

He added "it is unlikely that enough time is left to develop and establish GHG regulations that together will contribute sufficient GHG reductions."

The audit also suggested that the government should be more transparent about revealing costs and investments related to its climate change policies, based on its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act.

The government, which plans to kill the legislation, told Vaughan's office it disagreed with this interpretation of the law. But said it was "committed to transparency," and planned to continue reporting on its performance and policies through other publicly released documents.

"Environmental assessments were introduced for a reason," Vaughan said. "And that reason was to prevent damages. To prevent potential damages to human health. To prevent potential degradation to our environment as well as to save taxpayers money."

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Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Scott Vaughan holds a press conference on the release of his 2012 Spring Report at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 8, 2012.

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